Charles Constable

Memories of life as a prisoner of war.

Charles Constable talks about being called up and becoming a driver in the Army.

Life as a POW

Charles Constable talks about his time as a POW.

Back to Blighty

Charles Constable recalls his journey back to Britain.

Returning home

Charles Constable tells of the day he returned home to his wife after six years apart.

Prisoner of War

Charles Constable was a staff driver and during the early days of the London Blitz his job was to drive officers around London in order to assess the damage done by bombs. Charles explains ‘after a while they decided women could do my job so I got the sack and they put the ATS in our place. I was then transported out to the Middle East.’ Eleven weeks and three days after setting sail, he arrived in South Africa. From there he was shipped up to North Africa as part of the Eighth Army and taken prisoner during the siege of Tobruck. He didn’t have to work and found the experience ‘very disheartening’. The conditions were very cramped with three-tier bunks close together. To pass the time the men used to make drinking vessels out of bits of tin and Charles recalls how ‘one man made a clock out of tin and sand.’ Charles was in a camp in Northern Italy with over 2000 men which was a problem as ‘the Italians couldn’t count – we used to count ourselves.’

'The Great Escape'

In 1943, the capitulation of Italy resulted in the POW camp being without guards. The soldiers were advised to remain where they were but Charles thought ‘I’d take a chance.’ He and a friend left the camp and made their way to Southern Italy where they were hoping to meet Allied Forces. Unfortunately, Charles and three other men were recaptured whilst hiding in a wood and taken to the nearest train station. Charles was transported by cattle trucks and taken to Germany.

Charles was one of 50 men taken to Leipzig and forced to work in a stone quarry. The work was very hard and the production levels expected of the prisoners was continually increased. A German (who had been injured) and was also working at the camp became friends with Charles and when the opportunity to escape arose, Erhardt Vetter hid Charles and two others in his own home. This was a high risk strategy and when it was clear that the Russians were close, Charles and his companions left as they did not want their German friend to be shot for collaboration.

Charles recalls, ‘we were making our way to where the Americans were across the river Elbe and came to a house with a big Nazi flag outside. It was empty and had wardrobes full of clothes and uncleared breakfast plates – the occupants must have fled as the enemy were advancing.’ After making it to the American zone, they were flown to France.

A lift back to Blighty

Charles’ final journey home a few days after VE day was unorthodox to say the least. ‘I watched a big Lancaster bomber land and then the pilot asked, “How do you blokes fancy a flight back to Blighty?” I said “fancy asking a question like that!” After being told there was no room but he could squeeze us on the bomb rack, I said “I don’t care if I sit on a propeller!”

'Everyone thought I was a bit thin'

Once back in England, Charles was questioned about his experience and then able to go home. At Marylebone station a taxi driver insisted on driving him to his home in Camberwell, South East London with no charge. Charles remembers that ‘everyone thought I was a bit thin’. When his wife answered the door she ran away and rushed upstairs. Writing about this reunion 65 years later, Charles explains:

I had asked her many times why she ran back upstairs and she didn’t know…But on thinking about it I have an answer which is 6yrs apart. 6 yrs! We were parted for six years. Not 1,2 or 3. But six. Would she still remember me and I of her? Not a day went by without thinking of the time we spent together and will I ever see her again…Perhaps she thought the day would never come. Six years we had been apart.'